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Teddy Karwacki had just sat down in one of those comfy chairs at Remedy Coffee in The Old City district of downtown Knoxville early Sunday afternoon when he saw Mortimer Weinstein walk in. Teddy knew what was waiting as soon as Mort had gotten his mid-afternoon latte. “I suppose you want to give me a verbal dissertation about last night’s Heisman Trophy presentation?” Teddy said it loud enough over the music so that Mort could hear.

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Gazing for the next five-star prospect.

We’re closing in on one of the most exciting days on the college football calandar: National Signing Day. The day all high school players who will graduate this year can sign letters of intent to play for their college of choice. National Signing Day is the first day of an approximate two-month period, this year running from February 3 to April 1, 2010.

Every year, Division I FBS schools can add up to 25 new scholarship players to their rosters so long as the total number of scholarship players does not exceed 85.

We are inundated by stars. Not only by the players themselves, but by the rating system. Scouts, Inc. has their famous grading system, from one-star to five-star players. We’re bombarded by news reports of what team has this five-star player visiting this weekend and what team has three four-star players with verbal commitments, and so on. Read More…

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Once again I asked the collective braintrust at VITF to produce some more nonsense. This time, the query was to assess the proper recipient of this year’s Heisman Trophy.

Each of the VITF panel was asked to submit their top five, in order from 1st to 5th. A total of five ballots, including mine, were received. The votes were tallied by yours truly. Each first-pace vote was worth 5 points, second-place votes were worth 4 points, and so on. The table below is a summary of the number of votes for each position and the total tally of points.

Mark Ingram and Toby Gerhart each received the most first-place votes, two each, but Ingram received one more total point; Gerhart did not receive a vote on one of the five ballots received. C. J. Spiller and Ndamukong Suh came in third and fourth. Everybody else was way back, although Case Keenum who finished sixth received a first-place vote (his only vote).

Following the table are the individual ballot results along with some comments from each of the illustrious voters.

Why do we do this? Some things are just too important to be left to the professionals… Read More…

Alabama made 26 first downs to Florida’s 13, and converted 11 of 15 3rd-down conversions (11 of 15!) to Florida’s 4 of 11. The Tide’s rushing yardage swallowed the Gators’, 251 to 88 yards (63 of Florida’s 88 yards were Tebow’s). Alabama’s unheralded passing game equaled Florida’s touted Tebow-to-Company wrecking crew, 239 to 247 yards. And the Crimson Tide had possession of the ball twice as long as the Gators, 39:37 to 20:23.

Total domination.

This was simply Alabama’s best game of the season and Florida’s worst. By far on both accounts. But why?

Perhaps Tennessee Head Coach Lane Kiffin was correct when he humorously postulated earlier this week that both teams had great players but Alabama’s were better coached. Perhaps. Read More…

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We are now eight games into this 2009 season and the Vols are even for the season at 4-4. With Memphis coming to town this Saturday night – the weekly pre-game buildup will be a bit on the sluggish side – it’s an excellent opportunity to sit back and take stock in where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going. I’ve invited the charter members of the Vols in the Fall commenters to answer a series of questions on the Vols, the SEC, and the national scene. I throw my two cents in as well. We all provided comments without seeing each others’ musings. A blind tasting if you will.

Since none of us know what we’re talking about when it comes to Tennessee Football, or anything else for that matter, this should rank right up there with the professional media. As somebody once said, some things are far too important to be left to the professionals.